Carillion warns 4,500 staff over jobs as solar subsidies cut

By IBT Staff Reporter On 12/01/11 AT 2:40 AM

British support services and construction group Carillion has warned 4,500 staff in Britain that they could lose their jobs due to the government's decision to halve state subsidies for solar panel schemes, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

We expect the government's plans for much larger and earlier than expected cuts to feed-in tariffs (Fits) to reduce the size of the solar PV market significantly, the company was quoted as saying. Carillion employs 50,000 people around the globe.

Britain plans to halve state subsidies for solar panel schemes of up to 50 kilowatts (kW) and to impose minimum energy efficiency standards on buildings applying for solar Photovoltaic (PV) feed-in tariffs.

In order to react to the effects of this on our business, we have launched a statutory 90-day consultation process with our people on how we can reshape our business, the company said in a statement, according to the article.

Carillion's energy services division has contracts to maintain solar panels on the roofs of more than 30,000 dwellings in Britain.